|
Origins of surname Johnson Quick links
Back to
Main
Firstly there is no mistaking her name Johnson, where it comes from and how the Johsons arrived in the USA. Before I go on we must firstly understand the term Scots Irish or Ulster Scots, one thing this doesn't mean is Irish and that's for sure. You can find out more about all of this here http:/www.scotchirish.net A preconception is that Northern Ireland is occupied by the British but it isn't, 3 quarters of the people in Northern Ireland are Ulster Scots and that's what all the fighting has been about for 500 hundred years, and yes sadly it still goes on. It serves as useful propaganda for the IRA to say they are fighting the British but in actual fact its Scots Irish settlers they are attacking. Anyway in 1600 Northern Ireland was a baron landscape until Scottish settlers came across the 20 mile channel. The majority of Scots who migrated to Northern Ireland came as part of this organized settlement scheme of 1605-1697. Almost as soon as they arrived they where persecuted by the raiding Irish army's and the last 40 years of IRA violence has been an extension of this. I am telling you all this because I have no doubt that Amy's ancestry lies here, we have many Johnson's in this area. The surname Johnson is Scottish, deriving from the place of the name in Annandale in Dumfriesshire which was originally "Johnstown". The Highland Scots used "Mac" to denote a family's ancestral history as in MacPherson or "son of the parson". The Lowland Scots tended to simply add "son" to a surname to achieve this meaning as in Johnson or "son of John". My own name Hudson is a very similar in format. The original John was a Norman landowner in the area in the twelfth century, his descendants adopted the surname, becoming the Johnson's. This family, the source of all bearers of the name, became one of the strongest and most unruly of the Border clans, and their long feud with another clan, the Maxwells, was notorious for its ferocity. When the clans were eventually 'pacified' and scattered by James II, the Johnson's fled to Ulster where, like large numbers from the other clans they settled and the surname is today the second most numerous in the county. In fact I have Johnsons from the original plantation period living just up the way. The names of those who settled here where Crawford, Cathcart, Creighton , Cunningham , Chambers, Cranston, Dunbar , Deinbone, Erving, Elliot, Gibb, Gibson, Greer, Hall, Hamilton , Heigate, Irwin, Johnson, Lainge, Lindsay, Mitchell, Montgomery, Patterson, Smellham, Somervell, Stewart, Watson. These Scotch people, for a hundred years or more after 1600, settled with their families in Ulster (Northern Ireland) Beginning in the late 1600s, after 100 years and after having long suffered under great civil and religious oppression imposed by England and the Irish, some of them moved on to a more promising home in America. The Scotch-Irish were distinct from the Scots who came to America directly from Scotland. The Scotch-Irish were Scotsmen who had been induced to Northern Ireland during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I of England. The term "Scotch-Irish" is not, as might be assumed, an indication of a mixed Scottish and Irish descent. It is properly used as a distinctive race name for the descendants in America of the early Scotch Presbyterian emigrants from Northern Ireland. This origional migration began in 1602 and lasted for many years. It resulted in the Scotch occupation of Ulster, comprising nine counties in northern Ireland, and the Scotch subsequently became the predominant race throughout that region. These Ulster colonists, who were Presbyterians, held their ground against the Irish Catholics and eventually prospered despite the handicap of a barren soil and the necessity of border fighting with the native Irish. After about a century, the English government destroyed their prosperity by prohibiting the export of their woolens and other products, and at the same time threatening their religion by requiring them to pay tithes to the Anglican Church. As the long term leases of the Scotch-Irish ended after 1710, the English landlords steeply increased the rents. Rather than sign new leases, tens of thousands of tenants embarked in successive waves of emigration. The first American census of 1790 and has concluded that roughly one-fifth of the population of the Southern states, over a quarter-million Southerners, were of Scotch Irish birth or descent. The proportions ranged from 17%-18% in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina to as high as one-third in Kentucky and Tennessee, while in Georgia and South Carolina. Lucky for the ones who left, they found freedom in the New World, unfortunate that those of us still here are oppressed and victimized by ultra Irish Nationalist like the IRA. Anyway the Johnson left Portrush which is just a few miles from me and headed for the new world. They arrived and as we all know the Scots Irish spawned 15 Presidents and many others great pioneers such as Davie Crocket and Daniel Boone as well as many stars like Dolly Parton and Reba Mcintire. I take great pride in knowing that Amy's ancestors may well also have came form here and that once more we have helped in creating a great talent in the USA. Had her ancestors not left Portrush Harbor all those years ago she may never have been, now wouldn't that be a real shame. |
 |
|||||||||
|
Everything about Amy Jo Johnson Biography |
|
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
||||